“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”^(A)

¹⁰ But they rebelled
    and grieved his holy spirit;
therefore he became their enemy;
    he himself fought against them.^(A)

¹⁶ They were jealous of Moses in the camp
    and of Aaron, the holy one of the Lord.^(C)
17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan
    and covered the faction of Abiram.^(D)
18 Fire also broke out in their company;
    the flame burned up the wicked.^(E)

¹⁹ They made a calf at Horeb
    and worshiped a cast image.^(F)
20 They exchanged the glory of God^[a]
    for the image of an ox that eats grass.^(G)
21 They forgot God, their Savior,
    who had done great things in Egypt,^(H)
22 wondrous works in the land of Ham,
    and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.^[b](I)
23 Therefore he said he would destroy them—
    had not Moses, his chosen one,
stood in the breach before him,
    to turn away his wrath from destroying them.^(J)

²⁴ Then they despised the pleasant land,
    having no faith in his promise.^(K)
25 They grumbled in their tents
    and did not obey the voice of the Lord.^(L)
26 Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them
    that he would make them fall in the wilderness^(M)
27 and would disperse^[c] their descendants among the nations,
    scattering them over the lands.^(N)

²⁸ Then they attached themselves to the Baal of Peor
    and ate sacrifices offered to the dead;^(O)
29 they provoked the Lord to anger with their deeds,
    and a plague broke out among them.
³⁰ Then Phinehas stood up and interceded,
    and the plague was stopped.^(P)
31 And that has been reckoned to him as righteousness
    from generation to generation forever.^(Q)

³² They angered the Lord^[d] at the waters of Meribah,
    and it went ill with Moses on their account,^(R)
33 for they made his spirit bitter,
    and he spoke words that were rash.^(S)

¹⁷ Yet they sinned still more against him,
    rebelling against the Most High in the desert.^(A)